Hunters and gun enthusiasts have for many years sought to reduce the recoil of shotguns. Trap and skeet shooters in particular are sensitive to recoil of shotguns because in tournaments they may shoot many hundreds of rounds in one day. In addition to the force which a sportsman must endure there is also the problem associated with recoil tending to raise the muzzle of the gun during firing of the shot.
The prior art recoil reducing devices have approached the problem of gun recoil in several different ways. One approach has been to generally increase the weight of the gun so that there is more inertial resistance and less recoil. Others have sought to reduce recoil by using liquid mercury which is placed in the stock of the gun and moved by the direct motion of the recoiling gun or through some mechanism. Such mercury recoil devices have generally added considerable amounts of weight to the gun usually in the buttstock. This shifts the balance of the gun rearward which to many hunters is undesirable. The liquid mercury devices have also not been as effective in reducing recoil as many sportsmen would like.
Another approach to reducing recoil is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,018,694 to Browning. In the Browning patent a recoil absorbing mechanism is shown for use with shotguns having a recoiling barrel. The mechanism is connected to the barrel and through a system of ports and passageways receives explosive gases from the barrel at a specific time. The pressurized explosive gases are trapped within a cylinder which acts as a shock absorber to slow and stop the recoiling barrel near the extreme limit of its rearward travel. This arrangement prevents metal to metal contact between parts in order to stop the recoiling barrel without shock.
Another approach to reducing recoil is shown in U.S. Pat. No. 3,650,062, to Schubert. The Schubert invention is an inertial recoil reducer for magazine firearms. It consists of a weight which is placed in the magazine of a shotgun. The weight is held rearwardly by a spring which is interposed between the front of the magazine and the weight. When the gun recoils the weight tends to shift forward, thereby placing additional forwardly acting force upon the gun to reduce the amount of amount of recoil force experienced by the sportsman's shoulder.
U.S. Pat. No. 4,088,057 to Nasypany shows a gas operated recoil reducing and piston shock absorbing mchanism. The Nasypany invention has a passageway which allows explosive gases to pass from the barrel into a cylinder. A piston is slidably positioned within the cylinder and slides backwardly due to the force of the explosive gas. The piston used in Nasypany has split piston rings about the rearward end of the piston. This complicated piston sealing arrangement makes cleaning the recoil reducing mechanism relatively time consuming and difficult. It also incorporates a seal ring which is mounted in the cylinder and must be removed for cleaning. The Nasypany invention is designed to be placed above the shotgun barrel which is undesirable in most cases because of the deleterious effect on quickly sighting the gun.
The final approach shown in the prior art is U.S. Pat. No. 4,156,979 to Katsenes for a gun recoil damper. The Katsenes invention uses a large piston which is driven forwardly into a compression spring during the first part of the firing process. Before the load leaves the end of the shotgun the piston is driven backwardly by the compression spring thereby reducing the recoil which is felt during the last part of the firing cycle. The Katsenes invention is specifically directed to relieving the recoil associated with the load as it is just leaving the end of the barrel.
Although many of the prior art recoil reducing mechanisms have been effective, none have combined the high level of recoil force reduction of the current invention with the ability to easily clean the mechanism. The prior art reducing mechanisms have also been unnecessarily complicated for the level of force reduction which they have been able to achieve. The current invention solves the problem of easy cleaning and high recoil force reduction in a relatively simple and easy to construct mechanism which is economical to install and to maintain. Other objectives and advantages of the invention will be apparent from the following detailed description.